I’ve been doing some clearing out.
I must have had around twenty notebooks on my shelves. However, once they’re filled up, they are almost never opened again. Once finished, they’re put in a drawer, or on a shelf, and then pretty well forgotten.
Taking up space.
Occasionally I might be writing something and vaguely remember noting down something that might be relevant, but I’d never be able to find it again, so I usually didn’t bother. Anything worthwhile I might have written down while out for a walk or on a journey someplace, never seen again.
Yet when I actually come to sit down and read through them again, there tends to be nothing I want to use. Nothing that seems relevant. Either superseded by other ideas, or simply not any good.
Then there are the notebooks I used to develop novels, short stories, etc. No longer needed when the work is finished. Why hang onto those?
So they’ve all gone. It feels very cathartic.
Mick Canning 
Brave. Mine are in piles around the house
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It had to be done.
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You’ve reminded me of the day I finally looked at the pile of New Yorker magazines three feet high — you know, the ones I intended to read ‘someday’ — and carried the whole lot of them out to the trash. Such a feeling of freedom came over me.
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Yes, nothing quite like clearing out. I get what almost seems like a feeling of freedom when I do it.
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saving mine for my old age – oops the time has come.
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Ha! I did that and found I didn’t need them!
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I’m the same. So many notebooks, and then I read them years later and think, “What on earth was I on about?” But I don’t think it’s entirely wasted effort (for me, anyway). Sometimes just writing the ideas somewhere is enough, even if I don’t do anything with it. Not every story needs to be told.
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No, not entirely wasted. Even if you forget what you’ve written (if?!) a lot of it lodges in the subconscious and comes out again later. Possibly in a better form…
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My book club and I recently talked about benefits of journaling, which I do, but people were surprised to find out I ditch the notebooks. I asked them if they really thought anyone cared about their journals….and I was surprised to hear some say they know their kids will want them. All I could think was there’s no way I would want journals, and there’s no way my daughter would want mine. I hope I’ve shared much of the stuff with my daughter. And to be fair, yesterday I wrote that I was joyful about something trivial. Does anyone want to read that?
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I think that all depends on what your children are interested in. I don’t think mine would be interested in my travel journals, for example, which I keep for my own interest, but if my parents had kept journals I’d be fascinated to read them now.
But having said that, even if I thought my children would be interested, I’m not obliged to keep them.
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👍👍 mine are tossed when done. I don’t mind glimpses of the past but I don’t want to dwell on what ifs
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I get that. I had to purge some of my many journals and notebooks.
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There’s only so much space…
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So true!
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Thanks, Mick. I’m in the process ( a lengthy one requiring time and energy I don’t have) of tidying my study. I came across my own collection of notebooks, used, and like you I’m never going to consult them again, so I’ll be following suit and recycling mine with the paper.
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Excellent, Stuart. I’m sure we won’t regret it.
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It’s a brave act and you’ll always have the fear that something important is getting lost.
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Well, I read through them all to see if there was anything worth saving, and ended up noting down a couple of pages worth out of the entire collection. I don’t think I’ll regret it.
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That’s great and there’s no point repenting later.👍
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I’m quietly confident…
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I did the same thing a while back. It’s freeing isn’t it? For me, those notebooks held work (okay, ideas) I’d never brought to completion. They hung over me like some long-ago teacher’s comment “Not working up to her potential.” I swear, ditching them is a great way to open up mental/spiritual space for new work to come through.
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It is freeing, yes. Even though they were shut away in drawers, or lurking unnoticed on shelves they were still silently nagging away at me saying ‘don’t forget us! Your best ideas are in here!’
And they were fibbing.
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I think you made the right decision, Mick. Those old journals and notebooks served their purpose, but aren’t relevant to what you’re doing now.
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No, that’s exactly right, Ann.
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Decluttering is a good exercise.
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Definitely.
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I don’t think I could bear to throw mine out! I still flip through them from time to time, hoping to get a glimpse of an old idea ready to be refurbished or simply for a hit of nostalgia. I’m ashamed to admit that most of my old notebooks still have some empty pages waiting to be used.
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If you’re still getting ideas from them, Damyanti, they’re still valuable.
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As many have mentioned, the old notebooks were valuable at the time (putting down new ideas and thoughts), but the thoughts evolved and became something new and were used creatively or are in a new notebook… but even knowing this, it’d be so tough to throw them away. Yet, it is absolutely the logical thing to do 😊. Congratulations!
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Thanks, Randall. By the time I’d read through a couple of them and found nothing worth saving, I knew it was time for them to go!
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Hi Mick, Coincidentally, I’ve been doing some decluttering myself, too. I found a lot od my old diaries, even work diaries, which I know I’ll never need again, for the simple reason, everything’s changed. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. Instead, I got rid of old clothes. You’re very brave to get rid of it all. And sensible, too! I’ve told myself I’ll get rid of it by the end of this year.
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Hi Smitha. I think that if you read through those notebooks or diaries and find there’s nothing you need anymore, that’s the time to throw them out. Of course, there could be all sorts of reasons to keep diaries, I couldn’t possibly comment on that!
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I agree, Mich. It’s time to let go and stop holding on to all of it in the name of memory. I definitely know I’ll never need atleast 4 of those diaries.
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Maybe hang on to one or two as a memento of the writing process?
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I don’t think I need to do that. I’ve always got a notebook or two on the go at any one time anyway, and I need the space.
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Spring cleanup? (That was very brave. I’m more of a hoarder. Though now all fits on the computer/cloud)
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Not enough room in the house to hoard things, unfortunately. But it’s also a kind of mental clear out, too. It tidies up my mind!
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I understand totally. Since so much stuff is on my Mac or the cloud, I do periodical E-cleanups… Cheers
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